Chapter 7 Ro #2
My eyes moved around the room and I groaned, knowing this was about to be some intense shit.
I had never in my life seen so many Christmas decorations.
Well, not all in one place and for one tree, that was.
My mother’s collection would put Reece’s to shame, but in her defense, they were for the entire house of three trees.
All this, according to Reece, was for just this one.
I had no idea how she would make that work but I was rocking with it.
She had shit everywhere. Clear containers stacked on the massive square coffee table that sat at the center of two sofas and a love seat situated in a U shape.
Boxes were lined up against the wall on both sides of the fireplace and another stack towered up the wall beside where the tree was stationed.
Those were barely making it. I was ten seconds from reorganizing them so they didn’t crash land and ruin her moment, but didn’t want to get yelled at.
Reece was serious about this whole thing.
She explained how the decorations were organized by stages and tree sections, so I left it alone so she could do her thing.
What I didn’t want to leave alone was the woman in question, standing in the middle of everything wearing a green and white pajama short set with big ass ornaments as the buttons down the front.
While she was focused on sorting and digging through the boxes, I took my time enjoying the curve of her calves and the smooth cocoa brown skin of her thighs that the cotton shorts had on full display.
My mind went to thoughts that weren’t going to help my current situation, like being between them.
After that kiss last night, it was hard not to travel down that road.
Then there was the conversation with her friend.
She was very much sober this morning when she complained about missing out on sex after we left the bar and how she was kicking herself for crashing on me.
No matter how many times I told myself we weren’t going to take it there, we were.
The sexual tension between us had been potent all day and it was worse now, at least for me.
I dragged my eyes to safer territory but hell, the struggle was still there.
Reece was beautiful, so her face was just as distracting.
The way she kept pulling her lip between her teeth and toying with it while deep in concentration or when she fucking smiled and them pretty lips curved just right had me locked in.
As she moved from box to box, I got the perfect view of her ass, soft and round, jiggling with each subtle movement, barely contained by the cotton fabric. All of which was a whole problem.
The mug she handed me made it to my lips so I could enjoy the liquor based hot chocolate she’d made. I needed to taste something to erase the memory of her lips from last night. Everything about this woman was sexy.
But at the moment, watching her like this was cute as hell, and I fucked with it.
Unlike earlier today when we were tree shopping, her hair was set free from the braids she had tucked under her Jaxon, and already flopping in her face, shading those pretty brown eyes.
I walked back to the sofa and took a seat, assuming this was going to be more watching than working.
I was cool with that because the view was very fucking nice.
“You’re sitting and supposed to be helping.” She glanced over her shoulder, dragging bundles of lights from a box.
“I’m moral support. You don’t want me messing that up.” I glanced at the tree and she sucked her teeth. My dick appreciated the sound.
“You’re supposed to be here to help.”
“Aight then, I’m helping. Consider this supervising. I’m focused.” I lifted my mug and she turned to me, dropping her hands to her hips, which brought my eyes to them before my gaze lowered to her legs.
When I made my way back to her face, Reece’s eyes rolled but she smiled before digging into another box. “You drink, you work. That’s how this goes.”
“I put the tree in the stand. That was helping.”
Her eyes swung around the sea of destruction before she grabbed a bundle of lights, unwrapped them, and held them up. “These go on first. The lights are the foundation and they have to be perfect.”
She smiled so big there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about hiding mine. She really had me on some simp shit but I fucked with it.
“Perfect? It’s not life or death, Reece.” I was just messing with her because I knew how serious this was. Even if it wasn’t that deep to me, it was to Reece, and again, so damn cute.
“This is constructing the perfect Christmas tree, cowboy. It’s not life or death but pretty damn close.
You mess this up, you die,” she warned, pointing the string of lights at me before she turned toward the tree.
“You can’t just throw them up there. You have to weave them in and out of the branches so the entire tree glows inside and out. ”
I angled my head, checking out her legs and ass again before I had my fill then focused on her working the lights throughout the tree.
Her teeth sank into her lip while she concentrated on getting the lights how she wanted them, lifting onto her toes to reach the high branches.
By the time she was on her second set, she pointed to the pile on the floor.
“Let’s go cowboy. You’re up. I need you to get these up there and I hope you were paying attention because you better get this right.”
I placed my mug down and moved where she needed me after grabbing a string of lights. Once they were unwrapped, she plugged the end of mine into the end of the one she’d just finished. “You’re gonna have to move or I can’t get around the tree.”
She arched a brow and watched me after taking a few steps back then narrowed her eyes my way when I was done. “Are you playing me?”
“Nah, what you mean?”
“That’s not the work of a newbie.”
I smirked. “It’s light work. My mom used to put me and my brother on the task of decorating every year. I know a little something.”
“Then why are you acting like you don’t?”
“Just because I know how doesn’t mean I want to. This is my least favorite thing but watching you do it I might have to rethink that.”
Her pretty ass blushed and pushed her hair from her face before her eyes swept over me. “I can’t really complain about the visual either.”
I chuckled while she moved through the process of adjusting a few lights. “Why aren’t you home for Christmas? This is the family holiday.”
She peeked at me over her shoulder. “It’s just my brother, and honestly, he’s probably going to spend most of his time with a rotation of women. He’s not really all that sentimental, so instead of decorating and shit like this, he’s focused on how many women can bring him holiday cheer.”
“Mm, sounds interesting.”
“Interesting maybe, but also exhausting. He convinced me to try that shit one year and my only takeaway was never again.”
“Wow, maybe let’s not share so much.” She rolled her eyes and I chuckled.
“That was like ten years ago. I was twenty and dumb.”
“You’re thirty?”
“Yeah, how old are you?”
“Legal.” She grinned and I frowned.
“How legal, Reece?”
“Twenty-six.”
I nodded, walking back to the table to take another sip of my drink. “What about your parents?”
“Lost them when I was nineteen and Keron was twenty-one.”
Her hands paused and she turned to face me. “Keron is your brother?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. I know what that’s like.”
“Thank you.”
She huffed. “My dad had an aneurism three years ago.”
Her words from last night came back to me.
“…that’s the only man who’s ever broken my heart and I miss him.”
“You never really get over shit like that. It lives with you in the worst ways.”
“Yeah, it does.”
“And your mom?”
Her pretty face twisted in irritation. “Left when I was a baby. She didn’t want me or this life so she walked away from us and never looked back.
Funny thing is, I never missed her. My dad did because he loved her but I didn’t know her.
You can’t miss what you’ve never experienced.
I hated that he missed her and I hated my mother because she hurt him.
I loved my dad and he was all I needed but that’s enough sad stuff. Sad and Christmas are an oxymoron.”
I could fuck with that so I let it go.
“How’s your drink?” She pointed to my mug.
I took another sip before I set the mug down. “Dangerous. I don’t know what the hell you put in here but I’m going to regret it later.”
“You are.” She grinned. “It’s my father’s recipe. He used to make me hot chocolate when I was a kid, then he made his own. I never knew what was in it until I was old enough to drink.”
“I’m pretty sure your father didn’t like you all that much then because he was trying to take you out. Whatever is in that mug is real shit lethal.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “I’m pretty sure you can take it, cowboy. Now, are you helping or looking pretty?” Her eyes swept over me and I smirked.
“Do I have a choice?”
“No.”
I crossed the room and stopped in front of her, lowering my chin. “You think I’m pretty?”
She smiled and nodded. “You are but right now you’re pretty useless. Let’s go, we’ve got work to do.”
We got to work, with her bossing me around to reach the higher parts of the tree, Reece explaining the decorating process. Ornament selection, branch distribution, and spacing, all of which I didn’t give a damn about but paid attention to because it was her.
I was completely consumed by everything about Reece. Once we finished layering the tree, she opened the last box and removed a star. It was copper with a snowflake design etched into it and she was grinning so dramatically I almost fucking laughed.
“Alright, give me the story.”
“What makes you think there’s a story?”
“That goofy ass grin on your face is screaming story, Reece. What’s the deal?”
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I fuck with it. It’s unique. Can’t say I’ve ever seen one like it before.”